Titanic in Nova Scotia ~ Museum Artifacts

Museum Artifacts

Mortuary Bag

Sewn aboard CS Mackay-Bennett and used to safeguard the personal effects of Body No. 41; 33 year-old Edmund Stone of Southampton, a First Class Bedroom Steward who was buried at sea.

The core of the system for body recovery and identification following the sinking of RMS Titanic, mortuary bags were made aboard ship as bodies were found and they proved very effective in keeping victims’ personal effects together, both on the ship and in the morgue. This system was so successful that the coroner during the Halifax Explosion (1917) followed the Titanic example and made identical bags for the personal effects of explosion victims.

Description

Sewn aboard CS Mackay-Bennett and used to safeguard the personal effects of Body No. 41; 33 year-old Edmund Stone of Southampton, a First Class Bedroom Steward who was buried at sea.

The core of the system for body recovery and identification following the sinking of RMS Titanic, mortuary bags were made aboard ship as bodies were found and they proved very effective in keeping victims’ personal effects together, both on the ship and in the morgue. This system was so successful that the coroner during the Halifax Explosion (1917) followed the Titanic example and made identical bags for the personal effects of explosion victims.